I'm reading "The Witchery of Archery" for the first time. I ran across this quote about 3/4 of the way thru. "Running from one limit of this life to the other is the essence of rugged, utter freedom-the freedom of nakedness, if you like, the freedom to run and leap and yell, to lie down when you list and get up when you please, to cat freely and drink copiously-to smoke good tobacco without seeing elevated noses and hearing polite imprecations- to meet Nature face to face, and put your hand familiarly on her cheek, and talk to her as to an equal. All this I did with gusto and found it all good."
I've out grown the tobacco and don't get much pleasure from "Copiously" drinking. But there are times I feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late...  

I have read "The Witchery of Archery" so many times and I just never tire of it.  To bad some people get hung up on what they hunted and can't realize times were different back then.

I think there is a group of us that have similar thoughts and dreams.
CHuckC

He was a great writer and wrote from personal experience that most of us dream of.

I got my copy in 1984 and have enjoyed it many times since then. Maurice knew he was living the life. Also, his tobacco back then wasn't the chemical laced stuff of today. Copious drinking ain't changed!

I re read it every hunting season!  Makes the heart sing and the spirit fly!
Johnny & Kuri(the #1red dog)

I finished the book after I posted earlier. I found it significant that the Thompsons used archery/bowhunting to get Maurice over the PTSD and physical injuries from the war.